Federal probe of Duke coal ash spill widens

Wednesday

Feb 19, 2014 at 4:59 PM

State officials ordered to disclose any items they might have received from Duke Energy or its employees

From wire service reports

A federal criminal investigation surrounding Duke Energy's Feb. 2 spill of coal ash on the Dan River appears to be broadening to other Duke power plants.The investigation subpoenaed the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources on Tuesday for records related to all 14 of Duke's active and retired coal-fired plants.One of them is at Duke's Sutton plant, off U.S. 421 north of Wilmington, where monitoring wells show pollution leaking from the two ponds into groundwater.Duke confirmed that it too received a subpoena Wednesday. The company would not characterize what it sought.The subpoenas made public by the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources on Wednesday also ordered state officials to hand over any records pertaining to investments, cash or other items of value they might have received from Duke Energy or its employees.On Feb. 2, a pipe running under a coal ash pond collapsed at Duke's Dan River Steam Station, spilling up to 82,000 tons of coal ash mixed with 27 million gallons of contaminated water.On Tuesday, state officials said groundwater containing unsafe levels of arsenic apparently leaching from the ash dump is still pouring into the Dan River from a second pipe. DENR ordered Duke to stop the flow. The water coming out of that pipe contains poisonous arsenic at 14 times the level considered safe for human contact, according to test results released by the state on Tuesday.The new subpoenas were dated Feb. 11 and Tuesday. They follow two other subpoenas issued on Feb. 10, the day after a story by The Associated Press raised questions about a proposed deal between state officials and Duke that would have fined the nation's largest electricity provider $99,111 to settle violations over toxic groundwater contamination at two facilities.The new subpoenas seek documents related to that settlement and the state's regulation of Duke's coal ash dumps before the Feb. 2 spill, which coated the bottom of the Dan River with toxic ash up to 70 miles downstream.Duke has declined to share copies of subpoenas it received. U.S. Attorney Thomas Walker has also declined to comment on the subpoenas issued by his office.The records sought by the subpoenas are to be produced for a grand jury that meets March 18-20 in Raleigh.Among those ordered to appear before the grand jury is Tom Reeder, the Division of Water Quality director who oversees the state's enforcement of environmental violations at Duke's coal ash dumps in North Carolina.When citizen groups tried to use the U.S. Clean Water Act to sue Duke in federal court last year, the state agency intervened three times to use its authority to issue violations over the pollution. The citizens groups that originally tried to sue Duke opposed the state's deal, saying it shielded the company from far harsher penalties it might have faced in federal court had the state not intervened.After negotiating with the company's lawyers behind closed doors, the state proposed a settlement that would allow Duke to settle violations at facilities near Asheville and Charlotte for $99,111. That deal, which was scuttled by the state the day after the AP reported on it, included no requirement that Duke clean up its pollution.Environmental groups have intensified their concern about the enforcement of coal ash ponds since Republican Gov. Pat McCrory was elected in 2012. McCrory worked at Duke for 28 years before retiring to make his first run for governor in 2008.Since his unsuccessful first campaign for governor in 2008, campaign finance reports show Duke Energy, its political action committee, executives and their immediate families have donated at least $1.1 million to McCrory's campaign and affiliated groups that spent on TV ads, mailings and events to support him.At a news conference Wednesday, DENR Secretary John Skvarla defended the department from claims it had not aggressively regulated Duke on ash contamination."Any implication or allegation that DENR and Duke Energy got together to make some backroom deal for a nominal fine is just nonsense," Skvarla said. "We are taking what could be a 12- to 15-year (litigation) process and compress it to what might be a five- to six-year process."

This report contains material from the Associated Press and The (Raleigh) News & Observer.

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